Sometimes it’s hard to tell which it is, dawn or dusk. Getting brighter for a sunny day, or darker for a long night?
How to tell the difference? Obviously, it all depends on the direction you’re facing.
In this case, I was facing east. It was a dawn that was coming up all soft pinks and blues, stenciling the Alps beyond like a cut-out horizon.
Slightly smudgy photo of a crystalline morning of colors and clouds.
Photo: PKR
I was hustling to get a run in before nightfall – my usual loop has a couple of kilometers that are uneven farm track, stony and rutted, perfect for the occasional sprained ankle due to inattentiveness.
So I run, eyes on the rutted road just a few strides ahead, avoiding the rocks and grooves misplaced by tractors, rain and horses.
Why pick this loop? Because when I lift my eyes, I get these views.
Mont Blanc
Photo: PKR
And if I run just a little later than is safe for my ankles, I’m rewarded every so often with splendid sunsets.
And then my ankles aren’t in danger. Because I stop, pause my stopwatch, and take pictures.
Not great for my running time, but there are other benefits to running besides the physical.
Mont Blanc, second time around the loop, fifteen minutes later and from a different angle.
Photo: PKR
For a growing collection of skies, mine and others, I invite you to visit my new collaborative blog – FavoriteSkies.com, and to share your own favorite skies.
Different cultures have different names for the full moons of the year, and January’s is called anything from Wolf Moon to Snow Moon to Winter Moon to Moon of the Terrible.
But the moon that rose over Lake Geneva last night, caught here as we drove across Mont Blanc Bridge, was nothing so fearsome as to warrant its usual names.
This was a soft Gumdrop Moon, one day before it waxes full, shining above in pastel skies and reflected in the lake below.
Moonrise over Lake Geneva, Switzerland.
Photo: PKR